Patrick Stewart on His Most Memorable Talk Show Appearances

Amid great turnover on talk shows, we reminisced with veteran guest Patrick Stewart about his most memorable appearances. Oh: He also plays fictional TV host Walter Blunt on the sitcom Blunt Talk (premiering August 22 at 9:00 P.M. on Starz).

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THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW, 1989

"With talk shows, you go on and the interviewer, who's done this a thousand times, has a first question already written. It's stiff and awkward. But I developed an approach to keep it spontaneous: I would not let him have a chance to ask that first question. So I went on Arsenio and I said I'd always loved his first name. I thought it was beautiful. But then—I was so ignorant, so naive—I asked him where Hall came from. I got so much criticism the next day for embarrassing Arsenio by asking him questions about his slave name. God knows what it would have been like now. Facebook, Twitter—they would have me hanging from my thumbs. But I had just come to work in America. I had no idea what a slave name was. And so, nine months later, I went on the show again and apologized. He said, 'What are you talking about?' We had a real, honest conversation about it. It was no longer host and British actor promoting his show."

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LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN, 1991

"I'd just done a play in which there was a lot of dancing. So Letterman said, 'Well, how does it work? Do you just do 1-2-3?' And I stood up and said, 'You really want to know? Come on. We'll have the lesson right here.' He wouldn't leave his seat. I looked like a jerk. I found him to be the most immovable person. I think on the whole, I enjoyed sessions with Jay more."

THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART, 2000

"My first impression of Jon Stewart was a very good one. He's interested in having conversations. He didn't have a list of jokes written on a board that somebody's holding up over your shoulder. Nothing is more discouraging than the person you're talking to looking past you at the next gag. I found that commonplace early, but less with Stewart, Colbert, and Conan. Actually, I haven't seen a cue card for a long time. Maybe they're no longer fashionable."

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THE LATE LATE SHOW WITH JAMES CORDEN, upcoming

"In 2010, I was presenting a Glamour Women of the Year award. James, who was hosting the ceremony, had said a couple things to an actress during the show that I thought were kind of out of line. I had, out of boredom, started drinking too much champagne and decided to have a go at him. I drew attention to his shirt hanging out of his trousers and his belly sticking out. It was very funny for a couple minutes. But then came the first boos from the audience. And they grew. And James was encouraging it. We've talked since—we're friends. But I'd like to go on his show and talk about it. Boy, that was a hard lesson to learn."

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